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xer-melody · 1 year

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Rookie

Cullen family x adopted!human!male reader(!platonic!)

Warning: hurt/comfort, three original characters, readers friend sucking, a potential new friend tho, swearing, fighting, blood, getting arrested, mostly Carlisle centered.

Words: 2364

Summary: Y/n Cullen wants to tryout for the Baseball team

(A/n: I’d just like to say fuck Stephanie Meyers. Also this is my first request fill so yay!)

Request by anonymous : Cullen family x adopted!human!male reader hurt/comfort(?) where R wants to try out for the school baseball team, but his friends have little faith in him so he starts to self-doubt. So the rest of the Cullens help their youngest sibling practice and he eventually gets on the team. :)

The Forks High School baseball team had just lost a player. Well, not ‘lost’ but he decided that he'd rather play basketball instead, leaving an open spot on the team just a month and a half before baseball season. And you decided to fill that spot. Last season, tryouts had filled up quicker than anyone could have possibly thought they would, but the entirety of the old team was graduating that year, so with twenty-six spots open, people -most not even knowing how to play- flooded the coach in applications. And in an attempt at management, a team was hastily picked and tryouts were closed before you even got a chance.

While that first season was beyond painful to watch, they've gotten better over the last year, way better.

Ronan leaving the baseball team was, for the most part, a secret, at least for the time being. But he knew you liked to play, so he told you, and while you weren't friends with Ronan, you're glad you were the first he considered to take his spot.

That same day, in between classes, you practically ran to the coach's office and asked for an application.

Turns out applications had changed a bit from last year. Considering the fiasco that was the previous tryouts, he'd made it a bit harder to join. Instead of applications being a simple one-page, name-birthday-signature ordeal like it had been for years, it's become a ten page contract.

‘To weed out the fakers’ he said.

Now you were sitting in the schoolyard on the second to last step of the bleachers, half watching the team practice, half trying to fill out this seemingly never ending application.

“‘Have you ever broken a bone?’ no..” you muttered to yourself, checking off another box among dozens of other tiny boxes.

While the questions weren't particularly hard, there were hundreds of them. And you understood why but goddamnit this used to be so simple.

Leaning back against the beaches you watched as the eighth inning began, short words were exchanged between members as they switched spot, the catcher, a guy named Thomas, let out a playfully excruciating yell as he stood from his squating position for the first time nearly 20 minutes, his teammates laughed, and you let out a small chuckle along with them before returning your attention to the application.

‘Do you have siblings? If so, how many?’ was the next question on the packet.

Another filler question, as many had been, only maybe 20 of the questions retained to your health, or your ability to play.

A few minutes later and you were still answering questions, but kept a mental score of of who did what and how much longer until the ninth inning.

A few more minutes passed and you were nearly done, just a page and a half to go. You could get that done before practice was even over. You clicked your pen as you tried to think when was the last time you went to a doctor that wasn’t Carlisle.

Then, without warning, the application was pulled from your hands.

Looking up you saw the sudo captain of the Forks Baseball team, Apollo, who you only really knew two things about, both his parents were Greek mythology nuts, and despite baseball teams not technically having a captain, he was the captain. He dragged the team out of the mud by himself, and then proceeded to knock every game of the season out of the park.

And for a reason you couldn’t comprehend, he smiled down at you after quickly glancing over your application.

“You joining the team?” He asked, slightly out of breath (he ran across the field to talk to you).

“I’m going to try..” you responded quickly.

He chuckled, leaning up against the fence separating the two of you he said, “That’s good, we need someone like you-” he passed the application back, “You’ve been at basically every practice and game this team has ever had, won’t take you long to get the hang of things.”

“I play with my siblings all the time, playing on this team shouldn’t be too hard..”

At that, his smile widened.

“You’re confident, I like that. Can’t wait to have you on the team..”

He turned as the current right-fielder called him over.

“I expect you to see you at tryouts- on time, alright Cullen?”

“Alright..”

“Have you lost you’re goddamn mind!” Your self proclaimed ‘best-friend’, Jamison shouted.

You felt like your eardrum was going to burst if he kept yelling in your ear like that. You were driving him home and chatting when the topic of baseball came up, while he wasn’t too much of a fan, his older brother was on the baseball team. The moment you told him you were trying out he blew up.

“Maybe the rest of your siblings might stand a chance but come on Y/n, be realistic for a moment.”

“I am, I’ve been playing for years, I'm pretty sure I can make the team.”

He groaned, rubbing his hand down his face in frustration,

“Dude, the entire team is getting full ride scholarships, you can’t just come in and fuck that up!”

Stopping at a red light you turned to face him, “Who says I’m going to fuck it up?”

“Just..” he groaned again, “You’re not as good as them man.”

“You’ve never seen me play.”

“Still, just think about it playing with your siblings is different, they go easy on you because they don’t want to hurt your feelings, other teams won’t give a shit about you or your feelings!”

The light turned green and you moved your foot from the breaks to the gas, thinking just how wrong he was. This asshole had never seen you play, he didn’t even know anything about the sport and he was trying to tell you that you’d bring the team down.

“Whatever man,” You muttered.

You tried to ignore his words as best as you could, but such heavy doubt coming from one of your closest friends stung. Tapping your finger against the steering wheel, you breathed in deeply in an attempt to calm the anger that was slowly bubbling under your skin.

“Y/n, I love you man, but don’t do this, you’re good at…stuff, but not this. Just let somebody else try.”

You sighed, slamming your foot on the breaks, making Jamison jerk forward, nearly slamming his head on the dash board. You looked at your rear view mirror, no cars as far as you could see, you look forward, no cars. Then, as though the past three years of friendship meant nothing, you said,

“Get out.”

“What?”

“You heard me, get out of my car.”

He scoffed, sitting back in his seat, “Are you serious?”

After a second of silence he got out of the car.

And you got out right after him.

The familiar smell of human blood traveled through the Cullens’ home, followed by your scent, followed by Charlie’s.

Four loud knocks echoed through the quiet house, all were hesitant to move. But Carlisle, being the closest to the door, moved to open it.

Behind it he found a very irritated Charlie who was holding your arm behind your back. Blood ran from your nose all the way down to your chin, but other than that you seemed mostly unharmed.

Charlie gave a quick glance to you, then back to Carlisle.

“Found him fighting some kid in the middle of the road.” He said, sounding almost as disappointed as Carlisle felt.

You refused to met your fathers eyes. You have never disappointed him before, not in this way at least. You knew that fighting Jamison would lead to you getting in trouble with Carlisle eventually, you imagined every scenario as you rode home in the back of Charlie's car, but Carlisle crushing gaze of disappointment was harder to face than anything you could have imagined

You tuned out their conversation, but never missed the looks Carlisle would give you every so often, disappointment and worry clear on his face.

You didn’t move until you felt your fathers hand on your shoulder, pulling you into the house.

You heard something along the line of “don’t do it again” from Charlie and then the front door closing behind you.

Now you were facing the entire Cullen family, your family, as they swarmed you with questions. Questions you really didn’t want to answer, not now anyways. So, the moment you found an opening, you slid passed them and up the stairs. While any of them could have stopped you at any moment, they didn’t, instead watching as you climbed the stair and disappeared behind the wall, a second later they heard your door slam shut.

Laying on your bed, armed crossed over your chest, glaring at the ceiling above you, irritation coming off of you in waves as the fight replayed in you mind. You kicked his ass but he got a single good shot at you and it was with a rock, not even with his own fist the fucking coward. What kind of person throw stones?

You groaned in frustration, you should have put his ass to the goddamn hospital, maybe that would have given him some time to figure out how to not be a total dick!

You don't know how long you sat there stewing in your own frustration, but someone did eventually come to check on you. You heard the knocks, still you hesitated to get up. You didn't feel like talking, or explaining yourself. You did what you did and that was final.

But, then your father's soothing voice called for you and all the stubbornness you'd been harboring to avoid persecution slipped away.

Pushing yourself up and out of bed you walked to the door, and were met by Carlisle's no longer disappointed face, now replaced by worry.

He sighed before he spoke, grabbing your face and examining your still-bleeding nose.

A moment later you were both sat on your bed as he prodded your nose, tissue held to your nose as he asked you.

“Does this hurt?”

“No.”

He moved to another spot.

“What about this?”

“No.”

He sighed again.

“It's not broken, are you hurt anywhere else?”

“No.”

With that he sat back.

“So are you going to tell me why you fought Jamison, I thought he was your best friend?”

“He was,” Groaning, you said, “until today!”

Falling back onto the bed with a huff, letting your legs dangle off the edge.

“Do you remember what happened last year? With the tryout for the baseball team?”

“Yes, you said they were over before they even started, why?”

“One of the members of the baseball team dropped out, and he specifically asked me to try out and take his place.”

Carlisle smiled, but it faded quickly once he saw the hurt expression on your face.

“That's a good thing, isn't it?”

His words only frustrated you more. not with him, but with your so-called best friend, “It is! But when I told Jamison, he blew up on me- told me I'd only bring the team down. Then he told me to not even try because he thinks I'll fuck up their scholarship.”

“Sorry, I just-” you sighed, “it's just so stressful- I don't know if I even want to join the team anymore. I don't even know if I could! I went through all that trouble with applying and I don't know if they’d even let me on.”

Another sigh left Carlisle. Without saying a word he wrapped his arms around you, his cold embrace comforting beyond anything else. You huffed, irritation and betrayal still scorched through your vein but this lessened it.

A moment passes and you mutter, “thanks dad..”

“It’s alright son..” after a moment he continued, “never take advice from someone who doesn’t have your best interest in mind. As your father, I have nothing but your best interest in mind, so I'll tell you this-”

He pulled back for a second, looking down at you, a small smile on his face.

“Try out for the team, you've played with vampires, I'm sure a group of human boys will be more than impressed with your skills.”

With another sigh you held back a grin, your mood- and your heart- feeling tons lighter.

“Well if you insist, I guess I'll have to-”

And then your door was slammed open, the entire Cullen clan standing behind it, except for Emmett, who'd accidentally pushed the door open by pushing his body weight against it while your siblings were violently eavesdropping.

“…surprise?” Alice tried, holding up a metal bat as both a peace offering and mild defense.

“We were just uh-” Emmett started, but fell short.

“-going to help you practice…for your tryout.” Belle finished smoothly- well as smoothly as she could with a speech pattern as unconventional as hers.

With a wide grin Alice tossed the bat at you, you caught it seamlessly, having done it thousands of times over the years.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Tryouts were over. You were laid out on the dirt, which you were also covered in, the other attendees were in similar positions. Though some were closer to passing out from exhaustion than others. You, on the other hand, we’re just enjoying the sunshine and the breeze after a surprisingly tame tryout.

You closed your eyes, taking in your surroundings with your other sense, the most prominent of which was you potential competition gasping for air just a few feet away.

“You’re not even tired?” A familiar voice said.

Opening your eyes, you saw Apollo, nearly blocking out the sun.

“Not really.”

He let out a short laugh, looking over at the rest of the candidates with his hands on his hips.

“Well, shit- ain’t that something.”

He kneeled down next to you.

“So coach is the one who usually makes these calls with who gets picked after tryout, but you know what I’m pretty damn sure it’s gonna be you.”

“Really?”

“Really, I’ll see you at our next practice-“ then, unexpectedly he whipped his baseball cap off and tossed it onto your face, “-rookie.”

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werecreature-addicted · 23 days

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Would the sparkling vampires have been reacted to differently if written by a better author? Possibly

I feel like the main reason (imo) for why the sparkling is hated on so much though is that the reveal of it just feels so ridiculous. Like edward claiming he’s a monster or whatever and then proceeds to reveal his shimmery 6 pack is….unconvincing at best

og tags on this post for anyone who hasn't seen it

Excellent question anon. If you think about it there are a lot of silly things we associate with vampires.

Exhibit A: the classic widow's peak black hair and dramatic cape

look at it with fresh eyes and imagine seeing this for the first time, goofy. silly even. but this style of vampire was iconized by Bella Ligosi's performance as Dracula in Dracula 1931 which is of course very good and a staple in vampire cannon as well as just culture in general. It's good and it's old which lends it an air of authority. whereas Twilight is new(ish) and bad so it's artistic changes and creative choices are fighting an uphill battle already, add in the fact that Vampires Sparkling is a little ridiculous and you can see why so many people dismiss Twilight's vampires outright.

This post is so long continued under the cut

Now I am a Twilight fan and I think Twilight is very bad in a lot of ways, the two ideas are not mutually exclusive. Twilight however is a fascinating case study in cultural knowledge and mythos. Stephanie Meyer informally did very little research about Vampire Cannon, if you can call it that, before writing Twilight (link to an interview where she mentions it) so instead of being carefully constructed world-building based on hard rules and strict internal logic, the vampires are kind of loosely defined shadows based on the broadest understanding of what a vampire is. They're dead, they drink blood, they don't go out in sunlight. Some other popular vampire staples go addressed but dismissed as myth (garlic and having no reflection) but then things like The vampires in Twilight don't have fangs and have weird additional supper powers sometimes go just completely taken for granted and not really expanded upon in a satisfying way.

This style of world-building and magic system has a tendency to chafe against readers who have a more in-depth context for vampires and Meyre's more simplistic writing style makes the text come off as juvenile and perhaps a little dumb.

All this to say the sparkling vampires are not handled super well. It is a very large jump from what most readers would expect to see from a vampire story and it is handled inconsistently at best in the text itself. Meyer describes the vampires in the sun both as A beautiful glittering like that of a diamond, and a reflection of light so intense that it looks like the vampire is being burned alive in the sun.

these two conflicting descriptions coupled with the again simplistic and juvenile writing style makes it seem more like a mistake you should roll your eyes at rather than an intentional complexity to read into. I'd argue that Bella sees this inhumanity as beautiful and alluring while Edward sees it as a curse and a reminder of his monstrous nature and therefore disgusting. That being said I don't fault anyone for not wanting to read that deeply into the vampire glittering and instead see it as the author trying to have her cake and eat it too, something Meyers does frequently throughout even just the first Twilight novel.

Not even to mention the movies.

Exhibit B: this is the skin of a killer Bella.

This is prima facie hilarious and stupid. the juxtaposition of the soft glittering effect and the chiming sound in this scene coupled with the seemingly unwarranted disgust is so fucking funny. which is not the tone this scene is going for. it's supposed to be tense, it comes off as corny instead.

Then there is the hate mob that dominated Twilight discourse when it first came out. I will not get into how much of that hate was warranted, what I'm interested in is how much of a cultural impact it had. There was, at least in the beginning, a large group of people who hated Twilight and would hate anything that came from it simply because it came from Twilight. These people grabbed onto the sparkly vampire thing and made it what it is today, these people were never going to be won over by any artistic liberty no matter what.

So to answer your question, I think that if a writer with a more in-depth understanding of vampires and a clearer vision of the magic system wrote Twilight with a more mature tone and more time given to expanding on just the vampire's powers and limitations, and the movies followed these hypothetical books more closely AND if there was never an anti-Twilight coultral movement. then yeah maybe Vampires sparkling wouldn't be seen as the dumbest shit ever.

thank you for coming to my Twilight Ted talk.

#twilight saga #twilight #literary analysis #literary criticism #Vampires

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ctitan98official · 4 months

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@keyanhypothetical-deactivated20 Could I get something about how some of the ladies (Alice, Rose, Esme, Leah, maybe the Denalis and Victoria if you're comfortable with that) would react to a big butch werewolf imprinting on them?</p>

Hell yeah! I’m limiting requests outside of RE8 to four characters per ask, so I’m going to do Rosalie, Alice, Esme and Leah for this one. Y/N is gender neutral but will be on the masculine side so feel free to hc them however you want! Also, fuck Stephanie Meyer. Let’s get into it!

Alice:

The pint-sized pixie couldn’t see you in her visions.

You were traveling near the forests of Forks and caught her scent.

You followed the delicious smell until you found the adorable little vampire.

You stood stock still as you imprinted on her. You didn’t even know her name and she was now the center of your universe.

Alice was in shock when you went up to greet her. You were much taller than her, and she found you to be quite good-looking.

You held out your hand to her and she took it immediately. Your hand was so much larger than hers.

Her skin was so soft as you rubbed your thumb against her hand.

She loved the rough feeling of your calloused fingers.

“Hi… I’m Y/N.” You said in a husky voice.

Alice shivered in delight. “My name is Alice.” She beamed. “I think we’re going to get along quite nicely!” She grinned and poked your muscled shoulder playfully.

You laughed at her cheerful personality. She was everything you ever wanted.

Her voice was so melodic. You could listen to it all day.

You smiled back and slowly moved in to hold her. You gently leaned down and kissed her which she eagerly reciprocated.

You two are bonded forever now which makes you the happiest wolf in the world.

Rosalie:

Rosalie was in school when she saw you enter her English class.

You were definitely her type. She was immediately drawn to your rugged good looks.

She knew you were not human by your scent… Rosalie loved your fresh and invigorating smell, but she would not admit this until later.

You decided to sit down without looking at your desk partner. As you placed your bag on the ground and turned around to introduce yourself, you felt your breath catch in your throat.

All you could see was the beautiful blonde vampire next to you as you imprinted.

“What did you just do?” She asked you, uncharacteristically flustered. She felt complete somehow by your presence.

“I t-think I just imprinted on you.” You said with awe.

Rosalie then dragged you out of the classroom which made the teacher question you both. Rosalie shot him a piercing glare and he blanched and let you leave.

Rosalie was pissed. She told you she was not going to fall in love with a mangy werewolf.

She wouldn’t talk to you at first, but she did let you stay outside near the tree line of the Cullen house because it pained the two of you to be apart. Her mating bond with you annoyed her endlessly.

Eventually, she came around and brought food to you as you waited outside. She was an excellent cook.

As you two talked, she realized that you were what she has been looking for all of her undead life. You two are so in love now.

Esme:

Esme was doing her usual shopping at Newton’s. She kindly smiled at everyone she passed by.

Esme was a respected member of the Forks community and everyone loved her warmth and friendliness.

As she rounded the corner of one aisle, she spotted you.

You kind of stuck out like a sore thumb. You were very tall, easily over six-and-a-half feet, and your muscled body made everyone around you seem so small.

Esme had never felt such a strong attraction before. She placed a hand on a nearby shelf to steady herself.

You walked up to her after you felt yourself imprint when you looked at her. Your surprised eyes made Esme chuckle in spite of herself. Esme felt her mating bond form with you immediately as well.

“Well, my dear. It seems we will be seeing a lot more of each other. I’m Esme.” She smiled at you.

You chuckled nervously and scratched the back of your head. “I’m Y/N. I’ve been searching for you all of my life, it seems.” You took her hand and placed a gentle kiss on the back of it.

Esme would have blushed if she had been able to.

You two took your relationship slowly. She would invite you to dinner at her house (She didn’t eat, but she loved to cook for you).

You started going on romantic dates to the movies or to see a show up in Port Angeles.

You had never been happier and Esme’s need to shower someone with care and attention was finally satisfied.

Leah:

Leah was, unsurprisingly, heartbroken after Sam imprinted on Emily.

She closed herself off and only interacted with the pack out of obligation.

When Jake had gone on patrol around the reservation one day, he howled as a warning that there was an unknown shifter near the perimeter.

The pack hightailed it over to where Jake was to see what was going on.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know this land was claimed.” You said after you shifted back into your human form. Luckily, you were full-blooded werewolf and didn’t have to worry about your clothes shredding.

As you scanned all of the wolves in the pack, your eyes landed on the svelte form of Leah’s wolf.

Your eyes widened as you imprinted. Leah felt it as soon as she laid eyes on you.

The pack was shocked. They could feel your bond through Leah’s mind link.

Sam felt a huge sense of relief. He was so guilty about leaving Leah for Emily.

He surprised everyone by offering to let you join the pack so you and Leah could get to know each other.

You nodded distractedly in agreement, not taking your eyes off of Leah. You’d do anything to be with her.

The pack left to give the two of you some privacy. Leah hid behind a bush, which confused you, before she shifted back to her human form.

“Sorry we have to meet like this.” Leah stuck her head up and laughed as she called out to you. You realized that she was completely naked! You blushed and turned around.

The glimpse you caught of her face was gorgeous. You could stare at it all day and find new things to admire about it.

“I’m Y/N. What’s your name?” You asked.

“I’m Leah.” She shocked you, and herself, by walking right in front of your line of vision, still in the nude.

“I guess we’re not strangers now.” She purred and pulled your face down to her height for a kiss.

You two are very intimate and share just as much of a physical bond as an emotional one.

Masterlist

#alice cullen #rosalie hale #esme cullen #leah clearwater #twilight #the twilight saga #the cullens #twilight saga #twilight renaissance #alice cullen x reader #rosalie hale x reader #esme cullen x reader #leah clearwater x reader #twilight fanfiction #twilight fic

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andreafmn · 4 months

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Collision | Chapter 21

Word Count: 3.6K

Story Description: (Y/N) Uley is back home after being away for four years. Her life is at its first standstill and she is taking this time to find out who she is without school. But she never thought that coming back to the reservation would turn her whole life around. In the midst of secrets and mystery, a man crashes into (Y/N)’s and her life will never be the same.

A/N: well, after many, many months Collision is back with a chapter full of angst. Just like Speak, we are nearing the point where the Cullens come back and it will really be a battle of angst between these two stories. It's crazy how much distress I can fit into a romance story... it honestly feels more that Stephanie Meyer wrote in the actual books. 🤭🤭

<- Previous | Next ->

Ever since that dream, she couldn’t shake the dark cloud that was Carlisle Cullen. Wherever she went, she was reminded of him. From her job at the hospital to her studies at the university, from the books in her room to the stethoscope she wore, everything had a thread of him sewn into it. Once upon a time, she had thought she’d leave Forks in the arms of the love of her life, but she had started considering leaving because of them.

The reservation had always been home and had always welcomed her with open and warm arms. A few months before, (Y/N) would not have found it too hard to leave it all behind. She had already done it once and truly believed she could do it again. But it had been the only place that had embraced her when she had been at her lowest. Even if she had been ready to walk away from them, they had wrapped her in love and understanding. They had seen her at her lowest point and had helped her get back up.

Still, (Y/N) couldn’t shake the conversation she’d had with Bella. As time passed, she questioned more and more if she’d give Carlisle another chance if he did come back. The harrowing emptiness she felt inside was more than just losing a boyfriend. It felt like true loss. The only thing she could compare it to was the time her father had left –an event the man she had loved used as ammunition against her. But how could she deny the truth behind the statement? If Carlisle had asked her to move with them, she would have left everyone behind without another thought.

But he hadn’t. And she stayed. And life went on.

Things in La Push had shifted since the new year had started. For the better part of the first two months of the year, vampires had seemed to come back to feast on unsuspecting hikers in the colliding woods. They knew it wasn’t the Cullens, but they were a threat, nonetheless. Patrol times had doubled, tensions were high, and (Y/N) knew nothing about it.

So, when Bella had called her to see if she could join her on a hike in the woods, the older girl had no qualms in saying yes. She had the time, and it made avoiding Paul easier. Her head needed clearing, and there was nothing better than the fresh outdoors. Especially since the day seemed to finally clear up.

“Thanks for doing this with me,” Bella smiled softly as she jumped out of her truck. “I would have done it by myself, but I’m not good by myself in the woods.”

“It’s no problem,” (Y/N) responded. “I honestly needed this. Can’t spend my entire life buried in books.”

“Guess not,” the girl chuckled. “I would have called Jacob –we’ve been spending time together. But Billy said he was driving up to Port Angeles. Do you, um, know anything about that?”

“Can’t say that I do. But that doesn’t really seem unusual.”

“It’s just that he’s been avoiding me for a really long time, and I don’t really get why,” Bella said as she kickstarted their hike. She was slow with the map and the compass, slower than (Y/N) would have been. But the more time she could spend outside of the house, the better. “I mean, Billy said that he was sick, but it’s been over a week of that. And now, he’s apparently feeling better, and he still won’t talk to me.”

“I can’t help you there, Bella,” (Y/N) said, suppressing a grimace. She knew what it was that the boy was hiding from her, and she knew just how awful it felt to be on the other side of the secret. “But I’m sure things will get better soon. He’s probably just lost track of time.”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “Maybe.”

“Here. Why don’t I work the compass?” (Y/N) offered. “Do you have a specific spot you want to go to?”

“Oh, uh, yes,” she stammered in Bella fashion, handing over the map and pointing where she wanted to go. “It’s a meadow. Somewhere around this area.”

“Any particular reason we’re going there?”

“I don’t… it’s um…”

“Does it have anything to do with Edward?” (Y/N) softly inquired. They walked at an easy pace, stepping over rocks and fallen branches. “Is it somewhere he used to take you?”

“Yeah,” Bella admitted. “It’s a beautiful clearing. We’re not too far from there. It’s honestly stunning; covered in flowers of all colors. I couldn’t believe such a place existed until he took me there.”

“Mm, I guess finding secret places is a thing amongst the Cullen clan.”

“Did Carlisle take you somewhere like that?”

“Yeah, somewhere similar,” (Y/N) responded. “It’s actually a few miles up this river.”

“What’s it like?”

“Well, the first time he took me was by the end of August, and thankfully everything was still in bloom,” she said, smiling sadly at the memory. “There’s this beautiful wooden bridge that stands right on the boundary of Forks and the rez. Vines of flowers wrapped around the handrails, and water rushed loudly under it. The trees covered the place enough that it kept it cool but left enough light peek through to make it just bright enough. We’d meet there so many times. Mostly to talk, but there were times we just went there to hold each other and pretend we weren’t that different.”

“Have you, um… have you gone back there?” Bella asked as she slipped into a rock, holding onto (Y/N) for balance. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she chuckled. “And no. I haven’t gone back since he broke my heart and left. I’m afraid of how I will react if I do.”

Bella seemed to sit with the words before talking, a question furrowing her eyebrows long before she voiced it. After keeping quiet for a second, the girl whispered, “Can I ask you something without you thinking I’m crazy?”

“We know vampires are real,” she smiled. “There’s not much you can say that will sound crazy.”

“I see him sometimes,” Bella breathed. “In moments when I’m in danger, he appears and talks to me. And, uh, I’ve been doing some pretty reckless things in order to see him.”

“The mind is very powerful, Bella,” (Y/N) sighed. “In times of heartache, it can show us what we want in order to appease us. It’s not crazy, but I do hope you don’t do something crazy searching for him.”

“I won’t,” she chuckled dryly. “At least, I hope I don’t.”

“Then, can I ask you to promise me something?”

“Sure.”

“If you ever do feel like you’re about to do something crazy, call me.”

“I will,” the girl smiled. “Thank you, (Y/N).”

“Of course,” (Y/N) winked. “Us Cullen discards need to stick together.”

“The Cullen Discard Club,” she snickered. “I like that.”

They walked for a few more minutes before Bella recognized the path they were on, taking the lead on the hike as they neared the clearing. Her steps were lively, pulling faster than (Y/N). The Uley girl could see the excitement growing in her, a thrilling enthusiasm building the closer they got. Giddy and nervous was how she would have described Bella at that moment.

But they could not have known what they were walking into when they reached their end goal. “It’s not the same,” Bella said, disappointment dripping from her voice. “It doesn’t look the same.”

“Well, the ground is still thawing from winter, Bells. It’s gonna take time for new flowers to bloom,” (Y/N) cooed. “It doesn’t change the fact that it’s a beautiful spot. I’m sure that come springtime, it’ll be like you remembered it.”

But she didn’t hear (Y/N).

Bella was stuck inside her head, searching for something more than just flowers and grass. No. She was searching for the image of Edward. She searched for the feelings that bloomed in her chest when he was there. She looked for him in the dried grass, in the rocks and the fallen branches, and looked for him in the hard, cold dirt. But there was no danger. And no danger meant no Edward. No Edward meant the dark pit in her heart still remained empty.

Suddenly, as Bella scrambled to her feet, trying to find a way to escape the surplus of emotions, a figure caught both girls’ attention.

At the farthest corner of the clearing, a man stood motionless. As frozen as only a statue –or a vampire—could be. A flash of recognition washed over Bella’s eyes as she stared at him, excitement filling her once more.

“Laurent!” she exclaimed.

“Bella?” the man inquired, a cat-like curiosity sparkling in his eyes. “And company… I don’t believe I’ve seen you before.”

“I’m not exactly from this side of the tracks,” (Y/N) responded, tugging softly at Bella’s arm to get behind her. If the girl had been looking for danger, she had found it. “You’re not allowed into my side of town.”

“Ah, the Cullen treaty,” he said. “And I didn’t know they had another human pet. I thought you were the only one, Bella. They kept you very well hidden… I don’t believe I got your name.”

“That’s because I didn’t give it,” she said, forcing a smile. “And I would very much like to keep it to myself since I don’t plan on seeing you after this.”

“Hm, I respect that,” Laurent chuckled before turning his attention toward Bella. “I didn’t think I would see you here, Bella.”

“Well, maybe I should be saying that,” she muttered. “I do live here. And last I heard, you had gone to Alaska.”

“I did go to Alaska for some time,” he agreed. “But, it’s weird, when I found their house empty, I thought they had moved on.”

Bella’s breath seemed to hitch in her throat as she attempted to find an answer. She fished and fished but, “Oh,” was the first thing that seemed to leave her throat. (Y/N) tried to reassure her by giving the girl’s arm, but it seemed her attention was entrapped by the man before her. But finally, she managed to croak out, “They, uh, did move on.”

“And they left you both behind?” he murmured, almost like he was speaking to himself. “Hmm, interesting.”

“Do they visit often?” Laurent kept fishing, taking a tentative step forward as the girls took a step back.

Bella still seemed stuck in her head, looking off to the side of Laurent, rather than straight at him. (Y/N) was sure that the image of Edward had appeared in front of her, that somehow he was speaking to her, and all she could do was listen to him. Because to her, there would only ever be him. “Now and then,” she lied, her voice trembling slightly and rising in pitch. “Time seems longer when they’re away, but I’m sure it just feels longer for me. They can get distracted sometimes and…”

(Y/N) squeezed her arm as the girl started to babble, hoping she’d get the hint. The girl’s lying was as bad as her balance, and it was sure to get them in trouble.

“That’s odd,” he continued. “The house smelled like they’ve been gone for some time.”

“Well, they don’t really stay there anymore when they come by,” (Y/N) interjected. “We make an effort to stay other places when they visit, but they’re keeping the house for any longer stays. We’ll be sure to mention you came by the next time they’re here. But we really…”

“Probably shouldn’t mention it to… Edward,” Bella managed to add as she interrupted (Y/N)’s lie, forcing them to stay there longer and interact with the fidgety vampire. “He has such a temper… not that I have to remind you. He’s still so touchy about the whole James thing.”

“Is he?”

“Yup,” Bella affirmed, still not getting (Y/N)’s hints. The more the girl sent signals to the other, the more the Swan girl ignored. “So, how have things been in Denali? Carlisle mentioned you were staying with Tanya?”

“I like Tanya,” he grinned. “And her sister, Irina… but it’s odd staying in one place for too long, although I enjoy the novelty. The diet..? Not as much.” The smile he wore grew even bigger and more sinister. “There are times I cheat.”

“Jasper has problems with that, too,” Bella blurted.

“Is that why they left?”

“He’s actually quite careful at home,” (Y/N) interjected once more. “Hiding in plain sight just got a little hard for them. That’s why they don’t stay at the house when they visit. Too many questions.”

“Ah,” he mused. “Quite the predicament to live amongst humans.”

The glint in his eyes made (Y/N)’s mouth grow dry. She had seen that hunger painted across amber eyes months before, the night that had changed everything for both of them. It had appeared the second Bella had confirmed that the Cullens had left. They had no protection from the clan. It was open season for the two Cullen pets.

Somehow, Bella didn’t know when the moment was to keep quiet. She continued to offer information that only worked to cement the fact that the vampire clan had left them alone and had not bothered to come back. It was almost as though her self-preservation gene had died.

“Did Victoria ever find you?” Bella asked in an effort to distract him. Not that it would deter the predator from his prey.

“Yes,” he said, slightly halting in his steps. “I actually came here as a favor to her. She won’t be happy about this.”

“About what?”

“Killing you,” he grinned.

“Me?” Bella worried.

“Well, both of you. You,” he answered, pointing at (Y/N). “You were a welcome surprise. Victoria wanted to save that part for herself. Not killing our new friend here, but you, Bella. A mate for a mate—sort of poetic, no? She asked me to get the lay of the land for her, but I never thought it’d be this easy to get to you. Much less that you’d bring another one of their pets. Let me guess, you belong to Carlisle.”

(Y/N)’s reaction to his name gave the man answer enough. She flinched at the word, halting in the steps she was taking back. There was nowhere to hide, and Laurent knew it. “I supposed Victoria will be angry, all the same,” he sighed. “But I just can’t help myself. I’m so thirsty, and I can’t decide which one of you smells better.”

“They’ll know it was you,” (Y/N) said, standing her ground as she stepped protectively in front of Bella. “You won’t get away with this.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Laurent snickered. “The rain will wash away all scents. No one will find your bodies—you’ll simply go missing. Another pair of hikers in the wrong place at the wrong time. There will be no reason for Edward or Carlisle to think it was me. Especially not in regards to you, unnamed friend.”

“Please,” Bella begged. “Don’t do this.”

His expression softened at the girl, a kind smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “I’ll be quick,” he said. “You won’t feel a thing. I can promise you that. What she had in store for you… it was monstrous.”

The Uley girl couldn’t believe that was how she’d end her life. At the end of the day, she would still leave her family, with no reason or explanation. Only this time, she’d have no chance to come back. She would become collateral damage in the whirlwind that was Bella Swan, and she had stepped right in the middle willingly.

A gust of wind made the hairs on her arms stand on edge, paired with the chilling stare Laurent gave them as he inhaled their scents. “Mouthwatering.”

As he walked slowly toward them, enjoying intimidating his prey, (Y/N) turned slightly toward Bella and whispered, “He’ll attack me first, and when he does, I want you to run, Bella. No questions, no thinking. Just run towards the rez.”

“I can’t…”

“This is not up for discussion,” she said through gritted teeth. “It’ll take some time for him to drain all my blood, so you better run the fastest you ever have. Take off your backpack and run.”

The vampire’s pace increased as he bared his fangs to the girls, his stare trained on (Y/N)’s form. As Bella slowly slipped off her backpack, (Y/N) braced herself for impact. Tears burned their way down her cheeks as she mumbled a prayer to whoever was listening. She begged her mother found solace, and her brother found peace after her passing. And that somehow, the Cullens got revenge for her death. If it was her time to go, then at least she hoped it was for something.

Laurent was so close, she could feel the air from his movement, so she closed her eyes and waited. But the impact never came. As her eyelids fluttered open, she saw him paralyzed in fear, his eyes staring far into the woods. “I don’t believe it,” he said almost to himself. “It can’t be.”

He retreated from the edge of the trees as a growl echoed through the meadow, and (Y/N) finally felt like she could breathe. Sam’s wolf jumped out of the darkness, followed quickly by Jared and Paul, then Jacob and Embry, all standing just slightly to the side and behind Sam. For a split second, Paul’s wolf looked toward her, sending her a look of concern which she responded with a thankful smile.

Behind her, Bella trembled in fear, petrified in the position she was. But (Y/N) knew the last thing she needed was to see how the pack shredded Laurent to shreds. They needed to move, and they needed to move now.

“Bella, we have to go,” the girl said, placing a hand on either side of her arms. “We can’t stay here.”

“N-no… we… we can’t,” she stammered. “They’ll go after us.”

“They’re too preoccupied with Laurent. Believe me, Bella,” (Y/N) insisted, trying to break through the girl’s mental block. “We have to go. Now.”

(Y/N) took hold of Bella’s arm and dragged her to the same path they had come from as the wolves disappeared behind a retreating Laurent. The girls ran as fast as their legs could take them, weaving through the woods like they had done it a million times before. But where Bella was only begging neither Laurent nor the wolves caught up to them, (Y/N) couldn’t help but pray that the pack came back unscathed. She worried they would come back home harmed, all because the girls had been reckless.

Her lungs ached, and her legs yelled, but all she could worry about was getting back to the head of the trail they had taken. After a few minutes of running, which felt like a lifetime, they finally reached the rusty red truck that belonged to the Swan girl. They crashed onto its side, bracing their bodies as they caught their breath. Hearts were hammering, and sweat shimmered on their foreheads, but they were safe. Finally safe.

“What was that?” Bella trembled. “What the hell was that?”

“Wolves, Bella. They were just wolves.”

“But they… they only went after Laurent. One of them was so close to me I could almost touch it!”

“Let’s just be grateful they didn’t see us as a threat and went after him instead,” (Y/N) offered, giving away as little as she could. “Now, go home. Take a shower, get some rest. We’re lucky we’re alive right now.”

“You would have really sacrificed yourself for me, wouldn’t you have?” Bella asked, finally dropping the wolves. “You didn’t have to, but you were ready to protect me.”

“Yeah, I would have.”

“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but why? He wanted me the most. You could have saved yourself.”

“It’s not in my nature to do that,” (Y/N) shrugged. “It was sort of an instinct to protect you. I guess, I never want to see the people I care about be harmed, much less in front of me. I knew there was a chance you could survive, and I was ready to take it.”

“Thank you, (Y/N),” the girl sniffled as she took (Y/N) in a crushing hug. “You have no idea how much that means to me. “You have no idea what that means to me.”

“Just know I’m always in your corner, Bells,” she smiled. “Whenever you need me, I’m here. We're the Cullen Discard Club. We look out for each other”

“Right. The Cullen Discard Club,” Bella chuckled softly. “I guess I better head home then. Thanks again for everything, (Y/N).”

“Don't mention it,” she replied. “Get home safe, Bells.”

“You too, (Y/N).”

The Uley girl waited until the truck disappeared down the road before running toward the Young cabin. Knowing the pack would still be taking care of things in the woods, she called out to Emily once she reached the house. Her knocks were frantic against the door, nerves overtaking her senses.

“(Y/N)?” Emily questioned as she opened the door. “What’s wrong?”

“I… uh… a vampire and Sam… and…” (Y/N) couldn’t get words out as adrenaline and worry spiked even more in her system. “They could get hurt.”

“Oh, honey, come here,” the woman said as she took the girl in her arms. “They’re gonna be okay. They’ll be home before you know it.”

“But…”

“Nope, no bad thoughts,” Emily replied softly. “Why don’t you wait for them here and I’ll fix you up something to eat in the meantime? Looks like you’ve had a bit of a rough day.”

“Alright,” (Y/N) agreed as she forced a smile. “I just hope they’re okay.”

“They will be,” she smiled, hugging (Y/N) once more. “You’ll see.”

Next ->

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dnd-smash-pass-vs · 3 months

Note

you're eluding the true question which is "is stephanie meyer a better character writer than most dnd entries in the book of monsters?"

Oh, still the D&D books. Because at least they've got some talented writers being held back by corporate overlords. Stephanie Meyer had all the freedom in the world. I read all those books and watched the movies because I was a lovestruck little lesbian trying to connect with a girlfriend a foot taller than her. So I know first hand the level skill on display XD

#answers #not tournament

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noodyl-blasstal · 7 months

Text

With no apology to Stephanie Meyer

Day 8 of @taznovembercelebration and I got "vampire AU" and "ignore" - obviously this was the only way to go, short and stupid. (Yesterday's is here)

“Ignore my teeth.”

“Your fangs, you mean?”

“They’re just teeth, Taako.”

“Oh, right, so you just hate all teeth and want everyone to ignore them, do you? Do you hate my teeth? I thought you said I was handsome!” Taako’s going to get his answer, whether he has to bully Kravitz into it by talking at him or not.

“This isn’t ignoring them.” Kravitz is covering his mouth with his hand in a valiant effort to prevent Taako from paying attention to the fact he’s apparently a fucking vampire.

“It seems prudent…” Taako muses. Not moving out of Kravitz’s lap. “... to ask about them.”

“I don’t think it seems necessary.” Taako wishes Kravitz would take his hands away from his face and put them back on Taako.

“You’ve got a lisp.” Taako giggles in delight at the ridiculousness of it all. He finally gets his hot neighbour into bed, or, well, onto couch, and he’s gained a lisp and some blood sucking powers.

“I haven’t got a lisp!” Lisped Kravitz.

“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, just different to usual. It’s nice, still you, and I like you.” Taako moves his hands back to Kravitz’s chest. The sooner they talk about it, the sooner they can get back to what they were doing before.

“You should be afraid, not teasing me. I’m a monster, Taako.”

Taako leans backwards so far that he nearly falls to the ground laughing. Kravitz has to guide him back against his chest with one hand. He’s fairly sure there’s tears streaming down his face. “Oh, oh, shall I go google the word vampire very dramatically. Go on, tell me to hold tight.”

“Fuck off spider money.” Kravitz says. Then adds, tentatively, “you’ve never going to let me forget this are you?”

“Not… a… fucking chance.” Taako squeezes out between laughter. “Fuck me, do you glitter as well? Please tell me I’m going to be boning my own personal disco ball? That’d be rad as hell.”

“We don’t sparkle.” Kravitz is sullen, but not Cullen, thank the gods. The thought of anyone watching him sleep makes Taako feel itchy.

“So you are a vampire then?”

“No?” Asks Kravitz, lacking any ounce of conviction.

“Fuck, wait, is this why you won’t eat anything I bake for you? I thought you were playing hard to get!”

“And it worked?” Kravitz sounds baffled at the prospect, “surely you just thought it was rude?”

“I thought it meant you were interested.”

“I am.” Kravitz nods towards their relative positions to reinforce the point.

“In draining me dry?”

“Not of blood.”

Taako snorts out an extremely undignified laugh. “Hold up, are you using my fear of getting murdered to death to hit on me?”

“Is it working?”

“Kinda.” Kravitz was exceedingly hot, and Taako simply has to assume that vampire powers mean that he’s got super strength that they can use irresponsibly.

“It shouldn’t be. You should be worried.”

Taako draws his lips closed. He really shouldn’t start humming Claire de Lune right now, but the temptation is strong.

“You’re comparing this to Twilight again aren’t you?”

“This is the skin of a killer, Taako.” Taako says in the gruffest voice he can muster.

Kravitz thunks his head back onto the sofa in frustration. “I’m just trying to be sensible. You should probably be a bit worried.” He says to the ceiling.

Kravitz is probably right… Taako should probably ask more questions and not use the opportunity to kiss his way across Kravitz’s collar bone and up his neck, but, you know, he’s right there and he’s topless and Taako is only one human man with a normal amount of resolve.

“I mean, I want you to, like, give me a brief run down? But Taako’s gonna keep doing this while you reel off the headlines - that work for you?” Taako punctuates the question with kisses, spreading them across Kravitz’s chest.

“You doing that is not going to help with, you know, the whole concentration thing.”

“Then talk fast.” Taako grazes his teeth against Kravitz��s neck, delights in the way Kravitz involuntarily shifts his hips in response.

“I’m a vampire.”

“Wait, what?” Taako feigns surprise and looks wide eyed at Kravitz. “A vampire? In my house? I’m shocked! Surprised!”

“Taako!”

“Fiiiiiine.” Taako rolls his thumb across Kravitz’s nipple, relishes the surprised noise it pulls from him. “You were saying.”

“I’m a vampire.”

Taako sucks gently at Kraitz’s collar bone, open mouthed and gentle, laves his tongue across the skin there. “Mmhm.”

“Have been for a while.”

He shouldn’t… he really shouldn’t… “How long have you been seventeen?”

“Taako, please.”

“Yeah, no, okay, sorry, if you were seventeen this would not be happening, no matter how old you actually were. That one was bad.”

“Thank you.” Kravitz waits to see if Taako has any more interruptions planned. He does, but Kravitz doesn’t need to know what they are quite yet. “It’s been like 5…ish years?”

Taako noses against Kravitz’s neck. “Talk faster.”

“I don’t eat people, there’s a blood bank guy, and I promise I won’t kill you.”

“Good enough for Taako.”

“We’re doing this?”

Taako pulls Kravitz down into a kiss.”This isn’t contagious as long as we use protection, right?”

Kravitz looks at him like he’s finally lost it. “Are you suggesting tooth condoms?”

“Taako’s not not suggesting them.”

“I… you…”

Taako’s face must give him away.

“You’re not serious?”

“Nope! But you know what cha’boy is serious about?”

“I think there’s a strong chance I should be concerned about whatever you’re going to say.”

“Investigating the contents of these.” Taako dips his hand below the waistband of Kravitz’s trousers. It doesn’t seem like he’s in any danger and he’s been hitting on Kravitz for months, it’s time to get them back on track.

“Promise you’ll stop referencing Twilight?”

“And so the lion fell in love with the lamb.” Taako probably can’t push this much further, but also, how many opportunities is he going to get?

Kravitz snorts loudly. “Okay, that was the last one.”

“I’m glad I amuse you.” Maybe he won’t get that one, how closely did he study the source material?

“You’re the worst.” Kravitz says, and kisses him.

Check out tomorrow's prompt here.

#taz november celebration #taz nc #Noodyl Writes #Taakitz #Taako #Kravitz

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avelera · 10 months

Note

What kind of stories would you say are better suited to be written as fanfic? What kind of ideas work better/worse as such — for both long (to incredibly long) and short (to incredibly short) stories?

I'm going to take a step back because your questions requires a definition of fanfiction.

Fanfiction, in my opinion, is a derivative work that requires knowledge of another author's work in order to be effective to the audience.

This is why, in my opinion, protestations that John Milton's "Paradise Lost" and Virgil's "The Aeneid" not being fanfic are based on a value judgement towards fanfic that I find inaccurate. People who protest that those are not fanfiction have a value judgement in which fanfiction inherently means "low quality", which is a separate paradigm of understanding than my own. However, in order to derive the full enjoyment and understanding of "Paradise Lost" the author John Milton assumes deep knowledge of Christian dogma. The story does not work if you have no idea who God, Satan, and Jesus Christ are on a fundamental level and why Salvation is a good thing and Damnation a bad one.

Likewise, "The Aeneid" assumes and requires familiarity with the story of the Trojan War. The impact is severely lessened if the audience does not know what the Trojan War is, who the major players were, and why Aeneas would be fleeing Troy with his father and son. Characters they meet along the way lack impact if you don't know them as figures from the Iliad and Odyssey by Homer, a separate author.

As a note, a writer cannot create fanfiction of their own original work. An original character in an original universe cannot be a Mary Sue, unless we change the definition (which I believe we should, to one better understood as "an unconvincing power fantasy" but I digress). The Odyssey is not fanfiction of the Iliad unless we believe that Homer did not write both of them. This gets convoluted when we start talking about things like mythology and shared universes.

However, "Fifty Shades of Gray" though it began its life as fanfiction, is not fanfiction, wild as that may sound. That is because though Fifty Shades in its original form was "Twilight" fanfiction, a reader does not require knowledge of Twilight to understand and enjoy the story in its current form. They might derive some deeper enjoyment from knowing its origins but that falls more into the category of "reference" at this point, in my opinion, than "derivative".

"Referential" is different than "derivative" by the way, in my mind. "Shrek 2" might make visual gag references to other works like "Lord of the Rings" that are more effective if the viewer has seen Lord of the Rings, but the story itself does not require you to have seen Lord of the Rings to follow it or to enjoy it. The story stands on its own without requiring you to stop what you're doing, watch Lord of the Rings, and come back.

So, to your question, first and foremost story length has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not a story is better told as a fanfic.

What determines whether a story makes more sense as original fiction or as a fanfic is depth of knowledge of another work by a different creator in order to fully appreciate it.

A story about a high school girl falling in love with a vampire that ends in tragedy does not inherently need to be a Twilight fanfic. You can start from scratch with new characters in a new setting and no knowledge of Twilight would be required, though an audience familiar with Twilight might better understand the author's frame of reference.

A story by someone other than Stephanie Meyer about how Bella Swan came to regret her choice to become a vampire is a fanfic, even if the above mentioned original story and this fanfic cover many of the same emotional beats. Because the story relies on the audience's emotional connection, positive or negative, to the specific character of Bella Swan and the events of the Twilight series in order to follow this imagined sequel where she realized she made a mistake.

Now, that's a pretty canon-adjacent fanfic. I, personally, am not a huge fan of fanfiction AUs like Coffeeshop AUs where very little is kept of canon except the bare minimum of character appearances. I truly do think the author would be better served to saw off the serial number and just write an original work if the only they're keeping is the character appearances and a largely fanon interpretation of the characters. If you take out the vampires, and the high school, and you have Bella working for Edward in a high powered corporate setting and they decide to enter into a contractual BDSM relationship, I think the correct thing to do is to just adjust the story and publish "Fifty Shades of Gray" as an original novel, because you're so far away from Twilight at that point that all you're really keeping is the audience's attachment to that property and some elements of the power dynamic between Bella and Edward, which are easily transposed onto another fictional couple.

However, I am not representative of all fanfiction readers or writers. To some people, presumably, the fact that these characters aren't Bella and Edward makes the story not worth reading, even if their names are the only recognizable shared element with the original work. To each their own.

Finally, to fully answer your question I would say this:

A story that should be a fanfic is one where your goal is to specifically draw upon the depth of emotion and shared understanding of a character with the audience to make the story work. If it would require half the book to explain who these characters are and what they've done and why we should care about their past adventures in order to read this current exploration, you probably have a fanfic on your hands.

Ex. "I want to explore Bella learning she made a mistake by becoming a vampire." But in order to do this anguished character exploration you have to explain who Bella is, who Edward is, how they met, what her other options were, what events occurred to drive her to her decision, etc etc. Basically, a whole separate book before you can open to what you want to write which is her staring out the window realizing she hates her life.

But, if you want to write about a character who hates being a vampire and then embarks on other adventures, and all we really need to know is that at some point their high school crush turned them into a vampire and they now regret it...? No references to the Cullens, no Jacob, no Forks, no battles over Bella and Edwards love? Then you can probably just do an original story. And eventually, after you establish your new characters and world, you might be able to circle around to the moody emotional deep dive with your original character that you wanted to do with Bella.

It's a really nuanced question. It's hard to anticipate everything someone might mean. It's really dependent on the story. But I hope this makes sense!

#fanfiction #writing #maggie rambles

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thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 1 year

Note

Do you think breaking dawn went off the rails or was Vampire Baby the logical next step for the series? If not, what do you think the logical next step would have been?

This really isn't a question you should ask this blog for a few reasons:

I greatly differ in opinion than most Twilight fans and probably won't give you the answer you want on any topic

This blog isn't about Meyer or what people wanted from the series. It's about the series as is and trying to make the jigsaw puzzle fit together without relying on outside knowledge.

But I guess i can give it a go.

Did the Series Go Off the Rails?

Depends who you ask/what the point was supposed to be. For a YA series, it was a slap in the face, but it was after a series of several slaps in the face.

Twilight was the normal-ish, starting book, you had your romantic lead, your main character teenage girls can project on, you had people hating on it but at the time they hated on the way they hate on things like Barbie: because it was too girly.

"Real Men Vampires Don't Sparkle!"

(Yes, there were other people hating on it for much more legitimate reasons, but that was the big one you heard from people who didn't know anything about the books.

It's the one you still hear, actually.)

Then you get New Moon, which by all accounts, was a suicide novel on Meyer's part. The male lead dumps the main character, we don't see him for the vast majority of the book, the main character slinks into an insane depression that she never recovers from until the end of the book, and we're introduced to an entirely new cast of characters, a new supernatural thing, when all Bella as a character wants is for the Cullens to come back.

Now, they marketed it well, it became a love triangle. NOW JACOB IS AN OPTION! But if you look at what Meyer wrote, Jacob was clearly never an option even in New Moon. Bella dumps him the second she has a hint that Edward may have returned (Carlisle's car in front of her house). Even in Eclipse, Bella never really debates her choice, is just sad as she realizes she loves Jacob too but not enough to give up Edward and stay human.

It was a novel that I'm sure had her publishers asking, "What the fuck, Stephanie? Where's Edward? WHERE'S EDWARD?!"

Eclipse gets us back on track a little bit. We now have our male lead back, our female lead is dating him again, they have renewed conflict in the form of the secondary male lead and the love triangle and this new-born army thing in the background no one actually cares that much about. It's still a weird book, but it's relatively normal.

Then we get book four, Rosemary's baby, and the publishers died. Just died. Teenage girls don't want to read Rosemary's Baby. They don't even know how to market this anymore, it's not even a fucking trilogy like normal book series, they just say "It's a Saga! PLEASE BUY!" and promote nothing about its actual content.

My point is, though, the series was always off the rails. Twilight alone has insane shit in it, easily overlooked especially when you're thirteen, but it's fucking insane.

New Moon though was certainly something an ordinary series would never have done.

To say it went off the rails at Breaking Dawn is like thinking there were rails to begin with and not just Stephanie riding a missile waving a cowboy hat, "YEEEEHAAAAAAAAAW"

What Was the Next Logical Step?

Eclipse would have ended with Bella and Edward's wedding, Jacob shows up to offer his farewells and it's bittersweet, we never see Bella become a vampire. Just her hope for the future and knowing she's finally a Cullen.

That's how a normal series would have ended.

However, a normal series never would have gotten us to that point, would it?

#twilight #twilight meta #twilight headcanon #twilight renaissance #meta #headcanon #opinion

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vavuska · 1 year

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Stephanie Meyer in her“The Twilight Saga: Official Illustrated Guide” wrote that vampire pallor is part of the transformation new vampires undergo that beautifies them as their melanin drains away, resulting in their white skin.

In fact, in the first chapter, in which she describes the physical characteristics common to all vampires, Meyer wrote:

In the Twilight universe all vampires were originally human. As vampires, they retain a close physical resemblance to their human form, the only reliably noticeable differences being a universal pallor of skin, a change in eye color, and heightened beauty.

More orver the typical vampire pallor is not attribuite, as traditional thrope impose, to the fact that vampires are dead, recalling the repulsive look of a corpse, but to an element of crystalline, supernatural form of beauty, which is described as following:

The common factor of beauty among vampires is mostly due to this crystalline skin. The perfect smoothness, gloss, and even color of the skin give the illusion of a flawless face.

So, dark skinned or deeper skin toned people will have very light olive skin as vampires. In fact the only creature who keeps a natural dark-skin is Nahuel, the vampire-human hybrid (born to a white European vampire and a indigenous woman), who is described having “dark brown skin”, while his Aunt Huilen, a full-indigenous woman has “an olive tone to her pale skin” due to being a vampire. Let's see more examples in the book where this “white washing” effect of vampirism is more explicit:

Vampires in Stephanie Meyer's books are white and pure because Mormons believe people who are not white will be white in heaven. I can't 100% remember the reason or events but during some event they think God turned some people black because they either betrayed him or Jesus. So when you are a good person and go to heaven he will remove that. If you look into what Mormons believe it's almost as crazy as scientology.

Ok, apparently, Mormons think black and dark-skinned people are in some way descendants of Cain, who was banished from human community and condamned by God to a nomadic life. However, God was pleased by blood sacrifice (God favored Abel who killed animals for God, while Cain offered the products of earth he cultivated) and gives Cain a mark, known as “Mark of Cain” (Genesis 4:15). This mark of Cain is God's promise to offer Cain divine protection from premature death with the stated purpose of preventing anyone from killing him. Bible does not identify the exact nature of the mark God put on Cain. Whatever it was, it was a sign/indicator that Cain was not to be killed (but also a warn that helped others to spot him as a murder to not trust). Some propose that the mark was a scar, or some kind of tattoo (Maybe this is the source of Tattoo Prohibition in Leviticus 19:28). Whatever the case, the precise nature of the mark is not the focus of the passage. The focus is that God would not allow people to exact vengeance against Cain. Whatever the mark on Cain was, it served this purpose.

However, Brigham Young, one of the founders of Mormons and one of the earliest leader, described black people as cursed with dark skin as punishment for Cain’s murder of his brother. “Any man having one drop of the seed of Cane in him cannot hold the priesthood,” he declared in 1852. Young deemed black-white intermarriage so sinful that he suggested that a man could atone for it only by having “his head cut off” and spilling “his blood upon the ground.”

For more information about the racial question among Mormons, I suggest this article of New York Times:

#vavuskapakage #twilight #twilight saga #the twilight saga #stephanie meyer #edward cullen #the cullens #racism in twilight #Racism in novels #mormons #Mormon cult #Tw: racism #white washed #white washing #cullen coven #Egypt coven #vampire aesthetic #vampirism #twilight vampires

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thatsimpleperson · 9 months

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So I have question for my stranger things friends. How would y’all feel about this AU I’m thinking about writing a fic for? So essentially it’s an AU based upon “The Host” by Stephanie Meyer. I know the book is questionable but I would fix some stuff at least. No creepy age gaps or unconsented kisses. So essentially it would be Stobin centric (platonic of course). So Steddie would be Melanie and Jared and Ronance would be Wanda and Ian. Dustin would be Jamie. I have big plans and changes if I do write it. Like i changed it to where El is also a soul and she is put into robins custody. It would also have side ships like Byler, Lumax, Jopper, Murray x Alexei and some crack ships like Billy x Tommy (they both suck in canon so they can suck together). I’m hyperfixating on the host and I have consumed all the content I could find so I apologize in advance.

#the host #the host Stephanie Meyer #steddie #ronance #spicy six #fruity four #stranger things au #byler #fic ideas #stobin friendship #platonic stobin #platonic with a capital p

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ajsbookreviews · 4 months

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Eclipse Book Review

Eclipse

Author: Stephanie Meyer

Description: As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob - knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Review: My expectations of Eclipse upon deciding to read it were low. However, I did not foresee it being this bad.

There’s just so much my patience can take when characters sour and grow petulant, and in Eclipse they all became insufferable. Not constantly, of course. Some characters much more than others, and some only in periods of time. Nonetheless, there was not a single character that stayed consistently likeable, especially the main trio.

In addition to this, Meyer’s lexicon is truly questionable. Such as using words as coercion and forcing in moments were the words were uncalled for. And then later not using the appropriate words for problematic situations and/or conversations. Eclipse is built on this, every brick of its foundation representing the questionable beliefs and morals of its characters.

Any few salvageable parts of Eclipse were decimated by the mountain of terrible writing and disgusting tries of concealing SA and grooming behind the thinly veiled excuse of its book genre. For instance, the fact that Jacob is not the first werewolf to imprint on a baby. Or the fact that Meyer’s bends the significance of the age of characters at her will to fit the narrative.

Besides this, the plot is severely lacking. There’s barley any pay-off for the already poor amount of build up, and in the end the insufferable love triangle overshadows the rest. There were just too many unforgivable acts occurring, too many moments where I screamed silently to cope with the absurd insanity, to see any redeeming qualities.

Eclipse reads like a desperate attempt to “spice things up” and instead managed to make the whole book series much, much worse.

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everythingvolturi · 10 months

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My take on Twilight Mates - Part 1 Soulmates/True mates.

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I still question whether vampires actually ‘mate’ for life, and I will delve deeper into this in a later post. For now, I can categorically say that I do not believe in the ‘true mate’ or ‘soulmate’ trope.

By ‘true mate’, I mean the idea that two individuals, irrespective of them being vampires or humans, who are destined to be together. They usually feel some kind of inexplicit pull towards each other the instant they meet, and it’s like the universe is always coming up with ways for them to meet.

When I wrote my first twilight fanfiction 8 years ago, I was obsessed with this trope. The notion of a human having a metaphysical and unbreakable bond with a beautiful and powerful vampire was the perfect premise for my self-inserted fanfictions.

But my stance has changed, and there are a few reasons for this:

First: How does it actually work?

This is especially relevant for vampires, who are often over hundreds, if not thousands of years old. Most vampires also do not interact with humans or other vampires. All this is to say that the chances of vampires meeting their destined mate is not looking good statistically. Therefore, considering the amount of vampires who are ‘mated’ in canon, I highly doubt the plausibility of there actually being a ‘destined’ mate,

Also, what happens if a vampire does not find their ‘mate’ in time to turn them before they pass away? What if their mate existed before their existence? Are they subjected to a mate-less eternity, or simply ‘mate’ with someone and accept the reality that they have settled for second best, and might never meet their ‘true mate’? What if they find their ‘true mate’ after already having mated with someone?

It’s all quite depressing.

Second: How it impacts the characters and their relationship dynamic.

If you were told that your partner is destined to be with you, and would love and support you unconditionally, just how healthy is that? Not to mention the underlying ethical implications involving personal autonomy. (*Imprinting has left the room*).

Personally, I would want my partner to fall in love with me because of my qualities, values, or aspects about myself that I am proud of and worked hard to achieve. If I were told that my partner would still love me even if I were a horrible, abusive, lazy, selfish narcissist, I would seriously question the foundations of our relationship.

It also takes away the abundance of complexities and challenges that come with relationships, especially one involving a vampire and human. Knowing they are fated to each other really lowers the stake (pun not intended).

Third: Why do we still do it?

It feels safe:

For many authors and readers (myself included…), the idea that a vampire, who is theoretically better than humans in every way, is destined to be with us and will never leave us, is very reassuring. Less work and uncertainty is involved in the relationship dynamic because even the universe wants us to be together.

It is convenient:

This is especially relevant in the twilight-verse, where vampires often view humans as poultry, and other vampires as territorial threats. It is certainly not the optimal premise for falling in love and developing a substantial and meaningful relationship.

I think Stephanie Meyer herself recognises this, hence why most relationships in the book feel very sudden, shallow or lacking depth. There is the recurring theme of them meeting…and then being in love. Rosalie saved Emmett from the bear, and they are now in love; Carlisle saved Esme from her fall, and they are now in love; Alice saved Jasper by finding him, and they are now in love.

Sure, the book is written in Bella’s perspective which partially explains the lack of detail, but this is also a convenient device for Meyer, and enables her to justify this lack of depth by presenting these supposedly strong relationships and circumvent the crucial question of how they manage to fall in love in the first place. *The recurring theme of one partner ‘saving’ another warrants a post on its own in the future.*

Kate and Garett were the only other vampire couple that got together right before our eyes, and I want to have a gentle conversation with anyone who is convinced by their relationship.

If Stephanie Meyer struggles to do it herself, I wouldn’t blame fanfiction writers. It is very convenient to rely on a supernatural bond to force proximity between the characters. It also explains why a particular vampire would waste time to discover how attractive and special their lunch really is, instead of immediately going in for the kill.

Overall comments:

This is not a complaint, nor is it me trying to discourage people from continuing to pursue this trope. The wonderful thing about fanfictions is that there is no right or wrong in most cases. It provides an outlet for people to share their creativity and channel their inner fantasies through their characters and worldbuilding, and there is nothing wrong with that.

That being said, I always appreciate fanfictions that are able to explore and portray the originating of a convincing and authentic relationship in Twilight, without relying on a predetermined, supernatural bond. This is especially difficult to achieve for human x vampire pairings (particularly with some of the blood-drinking/Volturi vampires who have little regard for humans). I'm always so curious to discover how a meal can prove their worth to them.

#twilight #vampire #soulmates #soul mates #mates #fanfic #fanfiction

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